What I'm Thankful for.

Whenever we get food for thought, wherever it comes from, we need to be thankful for our wonderful country...Some say I can't say that; after all, isn't America responsible for all great evils in this world.? What, with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, aren't we the meanest people on the planet?

At this time in 2008 aren't we closer to Nazi Germany than to the America poets wrote about.

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/10/figures-obama-compares-us-to-nazi.html

Aren't we the land of the free... oops can't say that...the oppressed live in America and the "Messiah" has come to level the playing field. He's going to "spread the wealth".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoqI5PSRcXM

Our Financial institutions are the strongest in the world...oops...can't say that. We've just had the 2008 financial meltdown.

With all our problems how could anyone in their right minds love the United States of America. How can America survive? How could any of us be proud of America and say so.

Well I can!

I am proud to call this land my home and fortunate, beyond what my words can convey, to abide here. We have our problems but we are still the greatest nation on the earth! We can pray, freely to God, or whatever higher power we believe in. We don't have to believe at all, but that's America.

We are not Nazi Germany! Not even close. Other countries accuse of of torture and mayhem when they do worse to their own people and countrymen. We are transparent. We shine a light on our short comings. They hide their misdeeds in dark places and keep their citizens in fear.

We still help our neighbors when they are in trouble and our families when they are in need. As Americans, we give more...freely, from our hearts. We give in times of emergency or of national disasters. We give, not just money, but hands to help and minds to solve problems. We give in love to our friends and families every day, not just birthdays or holidays. We even give to the rest of the world.

We are many people from many places who have come together to form that perfect union, or as the constitution says, a "more perfect union". We are constantly changing, yet, still the same. The same great Nation our mothers and fathers taught us to love. The country people come to when they want to live free and dream big.

There are rumbling from some voices in our country that say they want to change our constitution, to make it fit their views, make it more like their beliefs and notions. They had better study history. We fight for what we believe in.

We self correct when needed with amendments to our constitution. We right wrongs for great issues like the women's right to vote and minorities rights to live, side by side, with the same rights as all Americans. Those changes are fought for with struggle and sweat and voted on so that it takes two thirds of our people to make any change. It takes votes from the majority of people in at least 29 states to add an amendment to the constitution.

Change doesn't happen quickly in America although thought moves more quickly today with all our forms of communication. Thats the important thing, to share thoughts and dreams. Most of us don't bully others to get our way. We exchange ideas and debate our views. All while still loving our county.

It's because we live in America that we can express our opinions to others. If we lived in some other countries in the world we could be silenced for expressing our views. Not just silenced verbally but permanently.

Free Speech, Free thought, Free expression. That is why I love America and why I am thankful for her. Scores of others men and women from all walks of life and diversity of thought have expressed their love of America. Here are just a few.

Ronald Regan said:

"And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was 8 years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home."

Carl Sandburg wrote:

"I see America, not in the setting sun of a black night of despair ahead of us, I see America in the crimson light of a rising sun fresh from the burning, creative hand of God. I see great days ahead, great days possible to men and women of will and vision."

Henry Ford II wrote:

"What's right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity - intellect and resources - to do some thing about them."

John Adams wrote:

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."

Lyndon B. Johnson wrote:

"This, then, is the state of the union: free and restless, growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith."

Thomas Jefferson wrote:

"My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!"

William J. Clinton wrote:

"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America."

Wendell L. Wilkie wrote:

"I believe in America because we have great dreams - and because we have the opportunity to make those dreams come true."

Mary McCarthy wrote:

"The happy ending is our national belief."

Felix Frankfurter wrote:

"We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights."

Lee Greenwood wrote in his great anthem:

"And I'm proud to be an American,
Where at least I know I'm free,
And I won't forget the men who died,
Who gave that right to me
And I'll proudly stand up next to him
to defend her still today,
Cuz there aint no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA"

We are a patchwork of humanity that forms the quilt of lives bound to a great purpose. To keep freedom, liberty and justice not just words said, but deeds practiced, everyday and in generations to come. May we be thankful for the promise that is the United States of America.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans.